Another chicken worming thread. Which med should I chose?

[Beaglegal]

Yesterday I found what, after looking at pictures that creeped me out, looks to be a round worm on my poop board. I know that the ideal is to have a fecal test done, but I live in a Covid hot area so things like this have become more difficult. I have 2 worm medications on hand, I have safeguard for goats (never used) and ivermectin cattle pour on, that I used to treat a chicken that I thought had depluming mites. Both can apparently be used for worms.

Which one should I use? This is my pullet coop, so they are currently producing most of my eggs, I’ve read invermectin has a egg withdrawal of 7 days where safeguard has a withdrawal of 2 weeks. So if I redose after 2 weeks like I have seen, it’s a whole month with no eggs from the coop? With the invermectin, would I also redose in 2 weeks?

My last consideration is my cockrel, he is not used to being handled and I am a little nervous to try and medicate him, the invermectin seems like it might be easier?

 

[Folly's place]

That fun 5am wake-up, or maybe the 11pm coop visit instead.
Mary

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I would use the Safeguard.
For roundworms only - dosage is 0.23ml per pound of weight given orally once, then repeat in 10 days.

If you want to treat for other types of worms (plus roundworms) then use the same dose, but give for 5 days in a row.

Ideally you want to dose your flock first thing in the morning when their crops are empty.
So...go out early while everyone is still roosting, grab each one of the roost and dose them.
This will make it easier to grab and treat that cockerel as well.

 

[Beaglegal]

No you would not repeat in 10 days if you did the 5 days in a row.
That length of time treats roundworms, cecal worms, gape worms, capillary worms - right off the top of my head that's what I remember anyway.

Personally, I would use the Safeguard. Ivermectin from my understanding is losing it's effectiveness when treating worms and yes, it would be a much longer withdrawal period than Safeguard.

Well doing it 5 days in a row would be a shorter withdrawal period, since i wouldn’t have to re-dose in 10 days. It would be more chicken wrangling but probably worthwhile.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well doing it 5 days in a row would be a shorter withdrawal period, since i wouldn’t have to re-dose in 10 days. It would be more chicken wrangling but probably worthwhile.

Do they roost?
Grab them off the roost early in the morning while it's still dark and dose them - no need for wrangling LOL

 

[Beaglegal]

Do they roost?
Grab them off the roost early in the morning while it's still dark and dose them - no need for wrangling LOL

They are cooped up at night but they still make a scene and fly all over the coop once I snatch one... the cockerel is the biggest baby of them all.... just because I culled all his brothers... I’ll never live that down apparently

 

[Beaglegal]

That fun 5am wake-up, or maybe the 11pm coop visit instead.
Mary

staying up to 11 sounds harder than waking up at 5 am... now getting my husband up to help at 5 am is a different story

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They are cooped up at night but they still make a scene and fly all over the coop once I snatch one... the cockerel is the biggest baby of them all.... just because I culled all his brothers... I’ll never live that down apparently

Hmmm...is yours a walk-in coop?
Maybe wear a head lamp with a red lens or light?
I usually don't light up the place that much but even if I do, they usually just sit and look at me. Mine are used to being handled off the roost quite a bit though.
Roosters/cockerels, I grab and dose them first, they get put on the floor, then I dose the girls. One by one, put them on the floor.
I also have my meds measured out and in individual syringes, marked for each bird if necessary since dosing can be different, this way I'm not fiddling with trying to measure inside the coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...er-construction-check-back-for-updates.73335/

 

[Beaglegal]

Hmmm...is yours a walk-in coop?
Maybe wear a head lamp with a red lens or light?
I usually don't light up the place that much but even if I do, they usually just sit and look at me. Mine are used to being handled off the roost quite a bit though.
Roosters/cockerels, I grab and dose them first, they get put on the floor, then I dose the girls. One by one, put them on the floor.
I also have my meds measured out and in individual syringes, marked for each bird if necessary since dosing can be different, this way I'm not fiddling with trying to measure inside the coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...er-construction-check-back-for-updates.73335/

That sounds like a good plan. I’m going to let each one out of the coop once I dose them. They will get all riled up but it won’t be the end of the world. I don’t handle mine a lot but I have needed to in the past, they get over it.

 

[Folly's place]

Ivermectin is not approved for use in chickens, and so there's no actual egg withdrawal time, except forever.
I wouldn't use it for roundworms, the fenbendazole is safe and effective, and has no egg withdrawal time.
If you ever do use Ivermectin out there, at least a couple of week's egg withdrawal time makes some sense.
Mary